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Photo August 10,1998
 
 
 
 
Photos August 11,1999
 
 
 
 
 
 

HoJo's Swan Song ...
Utterly ruined, Cendant's Orange Roof removal edict was cruel and unusual punishment for the hand that fed it. Instead of remaking the brand with a fresh image, Cendant and its Howard Johnson International division rendered the brand image-less. Worse, they succeeded in turning the brand into a meaningless low end, low quality, and less than desirable place to patronize. Amazingly though, Howard Johnson's and the reputation that it had prior to 1985 still resonates positive feelings even more than twenty years later.

Not long after Tommy Tucker's Gate lodge was desecrated, he died. Long time General Manager of the Motor Lodge Wayne B. Wenger said he died after having suffered a stroke, but it's more likely he died of a broken heart. Perhaps in memorial to him, the Spire and Lamplighter were carefully restored and placed for all to see in front of the swimming pool facing I-81.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Photograph August 2002
 
JMU Property: No Longer Howard Johnson
Having spent a considerable amount of money to appease Cendant during 1998 and 1999 in order to allow the Motor Lodge to continue to bear the HJ name, Mr. Tucker's heirs sold the site to James Madison University during the first quarter of 2001. The Harrisonburg Howard Johnson's had long served JMU and had been housing students in the Motor Lodge from 1980 through 1998. With its purchase, JMU touted the facility as a dormitory for students who had lived on campus for at least a year, and re-christened it Rockingham Hall. Officials initially believed that they would demolish the entire complex to add parking, and that converting guest rooms into dormitory space (and offices) would be a temporary cost saving endeavor to relieve campus housing issues.
 
Photographs courtesy of Phil Edwards
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Above: Please note Mr. Edwards' shot was taken farther away than the postcard view and his photo shows the interior corridor building on the south end of the property rather than one of the exterior entry only structures. (mouse-over to see the past)
 
 
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